This week our Fabulous Foodie is Annie Clark. She is one of the original Raw Foodies in the Country and we are blessed to have her chat with us. She’s shares some real insights into her world and of course a yummy recipe…

Can you tell us a little about yourself, how old are you, where do you like, what is your occupation?

I’m a happy, creative sort of person, who enjoys a lot of the simple things in life, like hanging out in the garden, picking some fresh greens from the veggie patch, making lovely meals out of ingredients I’ve grown. I love to walk! Walk the beach, country track, climb a mountain – as long as I get to walk to the mountain first.

I love to do yoga, and I love my little dog Minty, who is a great teacher with his ways. Minty may show up as a character in my next book, you never know! I have a lovely husband Darryl, and one amazing son, Jay. They are very special to me, and all on their own journeys. I am 54 years young, about to turn 55 at the end of September.

I’m a Lifestyle Health Consultant, Author and Speaker for health and lifestyle topics. I’m passionate about health, and living a compassionate life, which means thinking about what I do, say and teach. Awareness takes great discipline, so I’m always thinking about what I’m thinking about, and what affect I have on others. It’s part of my life’s work to be a positive influence on the people who come into my life.

What triggered your passion for healthy living and eating?

A: I grew up in a suburb area in Melbourne and at around the age of 13 I remember my brother brought home a girl friend who was a vegetarian. My mother was in a complete flap about what to prepare for her, as mum (bless her heart) was a true carnivore and didn’t have a clue about how to prepare vegetarian meals. I remember saying to her, ‘its okay mum, I’m sure she will enjoy some steamed vegetables or a salad’. When the day came that my brother brought this lovely girl into our family home, I noticed was truly calmer than anyone I’d ever met. She was politically aware, intelligent and gentle. There was something about her vibe that even though I was only 13 and I still recognised that there was something about her awareness that got me thinking.

I began to think more about the way food got to our family table. I had this uncomfortable feeling about it, so I began to cut back on the animal protein that was showing up on my plate. My mum wasn’t the best cook, she would usually burn the meat anyway, which made it very easy for me to pass it up. I had four brothers and they would eat what I didn’t eat. First in best dressed sort of scenario. Where mum excelled was in her cakes and sweets. This meant that my brothers and I became sugar addicts, which wasn’t so good. It took me years to tame the sweet tooth!

I wanted to make my own way in life at an early age, so I vowed I would get my own place, and prepare food the way I wanted to prepare it, and this was my main reason for moving out of home. Most of my girlfriends were still at home waiting for some guy to make it all happen for them, not me, I knew that if it was going to be, it would be up to me!

It was a completely natural progression to move away from eating animal flesh, as I just didn’t feel right about it, I preferred cleaner food and by 17 I was a full vegetarian, and happy to be that way. I moved out of my family home and rented with a friend, a dairy farmers’ daughter, of all things. Her occupation – a dental hygienist. My first flat mate always went home on the weekends, which suited me fine, I was able to create healthy food and write recipes, and then I moved back home to save some money, and was able to buy my own place several years later. This was exciting for me and a real challenge too. I worked as a photographer, I didn’t think I was a particularly good photographer, in fact I was very basic. I stuffed up a Wedding shoot, but successfully photographed a lot of musicians in the early 80’s. Photography was a beautiful creative outlet for me, and led me to meeting more people who would influence my perception around food and nutrition.

My pull towards a health profession began when I worked in Health food shops in Melbourne, and studied Fitness through the Foots Cray Institute of Technology and Health.

I also completed courses through Southern Cross School of Natural Therapies, on nutrition, anatomy and physiology and herbs. I then furthered my education by carrying out diplomas in Iridology, Lifestyle Health Consultancy, and NLP. Oh there were many more courses and certificates that I gravitated towards, and all these courses led me to the natural instinct to share, and to public speak about health and lifestyle. I began to write little recipe books, and had small print runs initially. I sold those books all over Melbourne, by myself, no publisher, not even a distributor. I was the creator, author, distributor and book keeper, it was mad! I was asked to speak at World Vegan day in Melbourne on preparing food without animal products, and I got a taste for this sort of career, I loved it! I got to listen to some amazing animal activist in the early 80’s, people like Juliet Gallately who wrote ‘Silent Spring’ and Anthony Robins, Diet for a New America. These people really influenced me. I remember seeing some video footage that Juliet showed at her talk in Sydney on what really goes on in Poultry and Pig farms, and that was pretty much the biggest catalyst for me to become more of protestor, without protesting with signs and voice, I just did it with my lifestyle and influenced people through my recipes and love of health.

I met my now husband Darryl towards the later part of 1983. He was into running, and fitness, and I took up running as a way of keeping fit with him. We would organise runs and events around sport, and do a lot of bush walking because it was the best way of keeping warm during the winter months. Eventually I just couldn’t stand the idea of another winter in Victoria, so we went on a road trip all the way to Cairns, and fell in love with Clifton Beach, North Queensland. Living up in North Queensland I began teaching vegetarian cooking at Cairns TAFE and a new class I developed called ‘Natural Living’. This class was about preparing raw food and I have to say I was influenced by the teachings of Dr. John Fielder, after staying at his health farm for a few weeks. I walked around the 300 acres property in the tableland area about 12 kilometres from Kuranda. I wrote in my diary, sunbathed in the mornings, and discovered I liked the concept of live food very much, because it made me feel really alive… Amazing. It was like, ‘how come the rest of the world are not eating like this?’ I knew why the rest of the world were not eating more live food, it was because it was just too out there, too radical for most people to conceive. This perception by the average person that raw food was for rabbits, was a challenge for me, so I set about creating Raw Food Workshops at my home in Clifton beach (this was 1992) and then later in Kuranda and created many beautiful recipes out of the tropical fruits and organic vegetables native to the area. It was a special time in my life. No one was teaching about raw foods then, so I felt really like a pioneer. Our son was born in 1996, and that posed a unique and different set of circumstances, how to raise a child on this sort of diet? It was easy, he just loved fruit, and was one of the healthiest kids in the area.

What benefits have you experienced from this life style?

More clarity, more awareness and certainly more longevity and a happier disposition. I feel good about who I am, and I can look at the cows in the paddock near our property on the Sunshine Coast and feel good that I’m not contributing to their suffering with my personal choices. Awareness is the main benefit… I’m healthy… I’ve never heard of anyone dying of eating too much broccoli or carrots! So that’s the message right there.

People forget how much power they really have with their knife and fork. I get a little upset to say the least when I see people throwing out meat that they have purchased, because they have become lazy and let it go past the use by date etc. I think, an animal lived, then suffered, then died, for someone to throw its dead carcass in the bin because they got busy or the tray of meat disappeared to the back of the fridge. Come on! This drives me insane with sadness and frustration.

I have big challenges around people in my own family that have a taste for meat. I have to share with you, that my son went to a Bar B Q When he was 14 and tasted sausage meet for the first time in his life. He enjoyed it, and came home and told me so! From then on I lost him to the carnivore life, this hurt me deeply, as I was incredibly proud of his food choices up to that point, but I realised I can’t do anything more to change him without becoming a ‘Nag’, it’s possible he may see the light. I will never prepare meat for him, or be involved with this sort of living. He knows this, and we live in a sort of ‘food tension’ in our household lately, the same tension I left when I was so young. This time I think our son will move on, because my belief and values are so strong around nourishing on animals. I will not FORCE my son to embrace the ‘Plant based lifestyle’, it’s not fair to inforce this on him, but I am challenged by his choices. Mind you, he loves my smoothies, cashew treats etc., so I am doing something right by him.

Is there one dietary rule you follow no matter what?

I will not eat animal flesh!

I will not under any circumstances be part of killing another creature or consuming something that has caused an animal suffering!

I will not eat late at night, or drink and eat at the same time.

What does a regular day’s food look like for you?

It’s awesome! I have smoothies with bananas (that we grow), avocadoes (that someone else grows – still waiting for my tree to produce – might be waiting a few more years yet!), activated almonds, strawberries, apples, hemp seed oil, powder and seeds. I enjoy chia seeds, salads, cashew cream pies, cacao puddings, fruit and nut balls, stir fry veggies (sometimes), soaked muesli, barley grass, juices with beetroot, carrot, parsley, ginger and celery. I really love a little chocolate (see that sweet tooth is still there). I like pumpkin soup, and this is cooked, not fussed on raw soups, they don’t do it for me. I like to put a handful of raw sprouts into a warm soup,,, mmmm that is the way to go.

I don’t really eat that much, I get too involved with life and food has taken on less of an appeal to me, but I love to indulge when I’m relaxing. I get busy with events, speaking and teaching, and that’s why I like the smoothies, they are easier on the digestive system.

When was the first time you made raw food? What did you make?

The first thing I tried making that was raw was my fruit whips. I just loved freezing up all the excess fruit we had in the tropics and turning it into a dairy free ice cream. I felt really good about this, as the taste of frozen strawberries and mangoes was out of this world, then adding coconut cream to blend and a sprinkle of crushed nuts or seeds, just made it so worthwhile. I also made fruit and nut balls. We used to call them ‘Goodie balls’, or Bliss balls… They were delightful. I only started to have disasters when I started experimenting for my In The Raw book. I noticed that I was not that skilled at making sun breads or drying fruits out in the sun. I had animals in the bush pinching my best work before I had a chance to try it! I got smart and created covers for drying out the bananas etc. I guess it was just part of the process, the learning process! Oh now we have food dehydrators… Who would of thought!

Top 3 Ingredients I can’t live without?

Bananas, Coconuts, Greens! Oh you can’t do this to me, Avocado’s, Sprouts, Berries, Seeds, Almonds… I can’t live without Paw Paw, Custard Apples and Mangoes,,… there are no top 3… Sorry can’t do it!!

If you’re hosting a dinner party, what’s your favorite dish to prepare that’s going to impress your guests?

Cashew Cream Pie with Coconut cream. My home made waffle bread goes down well too, and my Mixed salad with lightly roasted Eggplant and Sweet Potato. Mushrooms stuffed with Cashew & Red Capsicum filling, now that goes down well.

Most Valuable advice to offer a would-be raw/vegan chef

Don’t be afraid to change a recipe. A traditional recipe that is, from an old fashioned recipe book, can be modified by exchanging dairy cream for coconut cream etc. I think it’s important to think about how this meal will affect the gut, that’s probably why my food is very basic, I know too much about digestion, and how hard and tiring it can be for the internal employees to deal with a bad or poor food combination. I would say keep the combinations simple, and resist complicating a dish, because raw food is more intense with the flavours and you can overdo it with too many combinations.

What is your passion/purpose in this life?

Become a more humble example of health, live without hurting another human being, and inspire people to be proactive with their food choices, which I believe will change the world. I’m passionate about essential oils, and plant based food sources. I use essential oils in food production, like citrus oils, and Black Pepper essential oil in my savoury dips, which makes such a difference to the aroma and taste of the dip. I love films that make you think, so I would like to be part of a film/documentary that contributes to people making changes for the world. I’m passionate about the person reading this right now, and reaching out to them in a way that is not judgemental, just gentle and inspiring them to be the change.

I’m passionate about positive persuasion, which leads to the right sort of change.

When I wrote my first book – Good Health Recipes From Breakfast To Tea, I was working for a company that installed lifts in inner city Melbourne. I was studying nutrition and fitness at night and also working part time in a health food shop. I got one or two invoices to type up in a week, and I was the one who answered the phone when you were stuck in the lift that was contractual to the lift companies list of clients.

I was bored out of my brain, and looked forward to that phone conversation with some poor bugger stuck in the lift! So I typed up my first book in that office, while the staff spent most of their time in the pub down the road. I would type up all my recipes that I created and test them out on the customers in the health food shop. I was in my passion when I was writing and thoroughly enjoyed the response from the customers to something I created. One day I went to the post office across the road from the health food shop where I was working and presented the package of books to be weighed and franked for postage. The shop assistant looked at me, then at the books, and looked back at me again and said something that so changed my life. He said, “you are going to do good things with all these books, think of all the people that will be reading them”! I realised that I could be a voice, a link, to other people’s choices and this is what I became particularly passionate about! This is what I am still passionate about today! Oh, he also said I would become a millionaire and I laughed at this because I was and still am today not motivated by money. I would never of started writing books if I was motivated by money, it’s not profitable but it certainly is sustainable for peace of mind and joy.

What are your Challenges in Life!

Probably what I shared with you before, in relation to my son, and watching him change. He is a beautiful and loving young man, and I’m proud of him, but I see that he is making some food choices that I don’t think are good for the animals or the planet, but I have to see this play out, and perhaps not be challenged by it rather look at it as a test for me and my ambition to be more humble. I can’t change him or other people, I can only change me. That’s the challenge!

I can be found by going to.   www.anneclark.com.au

www.bewell.com.au   blog sites… www.thepooinyou.com.au  and www.theartofwellness.com.au

Phone. 0402 166 187.   I’m on Face book as:  Annie Clark.

My name is Anne Clark – that’s what you will see under the title of each of my 18 self -published books, but my friends call me Annie, and I’m happy with that. x